Monday, October 19, 2009

China has Second Highest number of Billionaires

China has more billionaires than any other country apart from the United States, a Forbes report has claimed.

There are 130 billionaires, up from 101 last year, compared with 359 in the United States, 32 in Russia and 24 in India, according to the magazine.

China’s rich are also getting richer, with the average wealth on the list £ 361 million, up almost one third on last year. Report author Rupert Hoogewerf said China’s super rich had bounced back from the financial crisis with a vengeance.

“We’ve seen China buck the trend and the wealth seems to be still growing,” he said. “They’ve put the credit crunch behind them. The key driver has been urbanization. You’ve got all these cities being built, and that requires property developers, iron and steel manufacturers. The latest thing is cars.”

Topping the list was Wang Chuanfu, chairman of electric car and battery maker BYD, with an estimated personal wealth of $ 5.1 billion. Second place went to Zhang Yin and family owner of paper recycler Nine Dragons paper, while in third place was Xu Rongmao and family, owner of Shimao Property Holdings.

China’s ruling communist Party once condemned entrepreneurs and private business people as capitalist exploiters, but now welcomes them since late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping began landmark economic reforms in the 1970s. One third of the people on the 1,000-name rich list are believed to be party members, according to the report. Still, one famous name fell off the list this year – NBA basketball player Yao Ming, who has struggled with a food injury for the last few months.